Yvonne,
Hello **wave wave**! Glad to know that B is doing so well. Yes, I think when the teacher repeats the same thing over and over, he would get bored. Now HR is the oldest in his class (playgroup/toddler), think he is pretty bored also. Luckily he is going to the N1 class next month, so all of a sudden, he will become the youngest in the class, with a new teacher, but same old friends, think the curriculum is different also. New things for him. Would B join a different class soon also?
mylife,
I couldn't agree more on what you said - "They chose to focus on certain parts to develop and sharpen. If u pay attention, for sure they will have something they're really good at." That's exactly what I shared after reading the early childhood education thingy. As a parents, we shouldn't urge our kids to be the all-rounder, he/she doesn't have to excel in all aspects, but we should really observe and understand our kid and guide him/her to enjoy the thing he/she loves most!
krsytle,
Think learning through play! Learning and playing can work together, don't have to be contradictory. Take colour for example. We use the Thomas the Train set to get him understand the concept of colour. At first, we didn't tell him the colour, but to tell him Thomas colour, Percy colour, James colour. Once he understood about the concept of colour, things can be grouped into different colour, he started to tell us, Mama, apple is James (=red). After he associated the colour correctly, we next tell him James is red. Thomas is blue, etc. Now he knows most colours. For a young kid, the most efficient way of learning is through play, definitely.
kitsune,
If the puzzles are not the exp set, just let RA explores the way she wants. Don't stop her. Don't judge a child based on adult perspective. For us, we know how a jigsaw puzzle should be play with, but you don't know how a child sees it. If they listen to our instruction and play the way we want them to, then you have less headache. But if they don't, it's not a bad thing, not at all, it could mean that she is very imaginative, and she wants to play the toy with her own way, her imaginative way. Never stop a child's imagination! When she peels off the connecting parts, you should try to ask her why you want to peel that off. She may tell you a reason that you have never thought of ;-)